GE to Mr. Charles Bray and Caroline [Mrs. Charles] Bray, Edinburgh, 7 October 1852
Title
GE to Mr. Charles Bray and Caroline [Mrs. Charles] Bray, Edinburgh, 7 October 1852
Title
GE to Mr. Charles Bray and Caroline [Mrs. Charles] Bray, Edinburgh, 7 October 1852
Sender
George Eliot
Recipient
Mr. Charles Bray and Caroline [Mrs. Charles] Bray
Date(s)
- 1852-10-07
Place
Edinburgh
Letter Content
GE to Mr. Charles Bray and Caroline [Mrs. Charles] Bray, Edinburgh, 7 October 1852
MS: Yale. Mostly published: Cross, I, 292-293.
Edinburgh | October 7. 1852.
Dear Friends
Here I am in this beautiful Auld Reekie once more -- hardly recognizing myself for the same person as the damozel who left it by the coach with a heavy heart some six years ago. 195
The Combes are all kindness and I am in clover -- an elegant house, 196 glorious fires, and a comfortable carriage -- in short just in the circumstances to nourish sleek optimism, convince one that this is "le meilleur des mondes possibles" and make one shudder at the impiety of all who doubt it. Last evening Mr. Robert Cox 197 came to tea, to be introduced to me as my cicerone through the lions of Edinburgh, and we are to set out on an expedition tomorrow morning. Mr. Williams, 198 too, the master of the Secular School was here, and I have been today to hear him give one of his lessons. The talk last night was pleasant enough, though of course all the interlocutors besides Mr. Combe have little to do but shape elegant modes of negation and affirmation like the people who are talked to by Socrates in Plato's dialogues -- [Certainly, that I firmly believe] etc. I have a beautiful view from my room window -- masses of wood, distant hills, the Firth, and four splendid buildings dotted far apart -- not an ugly object to be seen. When I look out in the morning it is as if I had waked up in Utopia or Icaria 199 or one of Owen's parallelograms. The weather is perfect -- all the more delightful to me for its northern sharpness which is just what I wanted to brace me. I have been out walking and driving all day and have only time before dinner to send this "paar worte" -- but I may have still less time to-morrow. Much love to you all.
Your ever affectionate
Marian.
MS: Yale. Mostly published: Cross, I, 292-293.
Edinburgh | October 7. 1852.
Dear Friends
Here I am in this beautiful Auld Reekie once more -- hardly recognizing myself for the same person as the damozel who left it by the coach with a heavy heart some six years ago. 195
The Combes are all kindness and I am in clover -- an elegant house, 196 glorious fires, and a comfortable carriage -- in short just in the circumstances to nourish sleek optimism, convince one that this is "le meilleur des mondes possibles" and make one shudder at the impiety of all who doubt it. Last evening Mr. Robert Cox 197 came to tea, to be introduced to me as my cicerone through the lions of Edinburgh, and we are to set out on an expedition tomorrow morning. Mr. Williams, 198 too, the master of the Secular School was here, and I have been today to hear him give one of his lessons. The talk last night was pleasant enough, though of course all the interlocutors besides Mr. Combe have little to do but shape elegant modes of negation and affirmation like the people who are talked to by Socrates in Plato's dialogues -- [Certainly, that I firmly believe] etc. I have a beautiful view from my room window -- masses of wood, distant hills, the Firth, and four splendid buildings dotted far apart -- not an ugly object to be seen. When I look out in the morning it is as if I had waked up in Utopia or Icaria 199 or one of Owen's parallelograms. The weather is perfect -- all the more delightful to me for its northern sharpness which is just what I wanted to brace me. I have been out walking and driving all day and have only time before dinner to send this "paar worte" -- but I may have still less time to-morrow. Much love to you all.
Your ever affectionate
Marian.
Signature
Marian.
Citation
George Eliot, GE to Mr. Charles Bray and Caroline [Mrs. Charles] Bray, Edinburgh, 7 October 1852, Complete George Eliot Letters(2026), George Eliot Archive, edited by Beverley Park Rilett. https://GeorgeEliotArchive.org, Accessed September 7, 2026. https://www.georgeeliotarchive.org/items/show/93155